Why K-12 Students Attend Virtual Public Schools
Virtual Public Schools
Connections Academy, a leading provider of fully online K-12 schools, has released results from its annual parent survey; shedding light on why parents enroll students in online public school and how satisfied they are with the virtual school experience.
Among the top reasons families choose Connections-supported virtual public schools: 46% stated the family / student’s need for more flexibility than is possible in a traditional school; 43% want a change from their local school; 34% desire a safe learning environment (encompassing both physical and social safety); 26% of parents want more involvement with their child’s education.
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Other parents specifically cited health concerns, bullying, and their child’s pursuit of sports or arts as a driver for enrollment. The results are similar to last year’s findings, with some small shifts.
Virtual Public Schools
In 2015, slightly more families indicated ”flexibility“ as a reason for enrollment (46% in 2015 VS 44% in 2014); slightly fewer families ”wanted a change from their local school“ (43% in 2015 VS 45% in 2014).
Quality and high levels of satisfaction are also key themes among the results with 93% of parents stating that they would recommend Connections Academy to other families, 95% agreeing that the curriculum is high quality, and 96% expressing satisfaction with the helpfulness of their child’s teacher.
Survey data is from the 2015 Connections Academy Parent Satisfaction Survey, an annual third-party survey now in its 13th year. All families with students enrolled at the time of the survey were invited to participate; 38% of families responded to the survey, totaling more than 18,000 respondents.
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Additional highlights from the 2015 Connections Academy Parent Satisfaction Survey:
- 91% of parents agree that their child / children are making good progress
- 89% of parents agree that their child / children are enjoying the program
- 93% of parents agree that they are satisfied with the variety of learning activities provided by the program
- 92% of parents agree that the program is flexible
- 93% of parents agree that the use of technology is improving the learning experience
- 84% of Connections Academy parents say they are more satisfied with the virtual school than their child’s previous school
- 92% of parents agree that the teachers improve the learning experience
Connections Academy conducts the annual Parent Satisfaction Survey to find out how parents, guardians and Learning Coaches grade the program in several key areas.
The 2015 survey was conducted from January 13 to February 28, 2015 by Shapiro and Raj, an independent market research company which created the questionnaire, collected the data, and tabulated the results. The survey results were announced Wednesday, June 17.
Connections Academy is a leading provider of virtual schooling for students in grades K through 12.
